Game Theory
by Kingofclubs8129
Summary: Sixteen year old Harry Dresden is having a very strange birthday. He woke up with new powers he cant explain and doesn't understand. He cant really complain though. What teenage guy doesn't want a video game for his birthday? A Dresden files Gamer story.
1. Playing the fool

I can honestly say that my sixteenth birthday was the weirdest day of my life. The first thing I noticed upon waking was hair in my face. Blonde hair that smelled like strawberries and sweat. The second was the incredibly athletic naked female body wrapped around me under my sheets. I didn't need to look at her face, I had known that scent since we were just kids, and the still fresh memories of our first night together and our first soulgaze only reinforced the special place its owner had in my heart.

I smiled down at Elaine, my girlfriend, my world, and smoothed back her rumpled blonde hair tenderly from that beautiful face. For all of a second before she reached up and smacked at my fice while burying her face under the blanket. I winced at my smarting nose and laughed at her antics. Elaine had never been a morning person. Hell neither had I but riding the high of my first time with my ridiculously pretty girlfriend had me up in more ways than one.

I was about to follow her under there before something caught my eye. **Due to strenuous physical activity your VIT has risen by 1!** I blinked at that. Ok, that was pretty odd, even for a wizard. I'd played my share of Dungeons and Dragons so I recognized the format. I glanced suspiciously down at the lump in my blanket. Elaine was pretty good at illusions, and this wouldn't be her first time pranking me. I waved my hand through the image to see what happened and- **Due to use of charm and romance, your CHA has risen by 1!**

I rolled my eyes "Ok Lanie, funny stuff, but can we save the roleplay for a day that isn't my birthday?" I grunted as she punched me in the solar plexus before reaching up to cover my face with her palm, a quiet shh noise following the clear instance of domestic violence. I rolled my eyes and looked around quickly before deciding to just check on the windows with my Sight. Elaine wasn't this good an actress on her best day, and no way in hell she casts illusions this good without looking anyway.

I opened up my third eye, allowing myself to gaze upon the world as it truly was…and stared dumbfounded at the still there window hanging suspended, unmoving in the air in front of me. I reached up again to touch the window **Congratulations! Due to considerations of power and circumstance, you have been chosen as this worlds Gamer! The Gamer is a unique individual in each world who lives their life as if it was a video game! Defeat enemies to become stronger, and accomplish tasks to grow in power! For more information on your world and your new place in it, check the "Backstory" tab of your status page!**

I blinked in utter shock at the window, completely unchanged from the others in the sight of my inner eye. I pushed Elaines hand off my face (much to her annoyance) and adjusted myself in bed till I was sitting up more. I blocked a lazy swing at my balls by Elaines fist with a wince and slipped very carefully out from under her to slide off the bed and put on my nearest pair of sweats. I yelped and spun to glare at Elaine when I received a punch in the hip, but just saw her arm hanging limply off the side of the bed, peeking out from under the blanket. Woman was a damn menace.

I slipped quietly out of the room, making sure to close the door softly and stopping to check if she was going to throw a shoe at it or something for daring to rouse her from her slumber. Luckily my door remained intact as I pulled on a sweater from the closet and headed out into the back yard to try to get some privacy while I looked into this little mystery. The last thing I needed was to spend my birthday undergoing a series of grueling and irritating mental and magical tests to see if I was a nutbar. I walked barefoot into the cold October morning, the dew speckled grass crunching slightly under my feet as I slipped between the trees to a rather remote clearing I used when I needed to think.

Even Elaine wasn't aware of this particular spot, and once I made it into the clearing I sat down on a stump off to one side which had been shaded by another tree. The seat of my pants started to soak through from the chilly moisture of morning dew but I ignored it before taking a deep breath and speaking the word I highly suspected, in one way or another, would change my world forever. "Status."

 **Name: Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden**

 **Species: Human (wizard variant)**

 **Level: 1- 0/100**

 **Age:16**

 **Title(s): None**

 **HP:100/100**

 **MP:1000/1000**

 **Dissonance:79%**

 **Statistics:**

 **STR-4**

 **CHA-5**

 **VIT-6**

 **DEX-2**

 **INT-9**

 **WIS-6**

 **LUK-1**

 **Passive: Starborn- Born under a confluence of signs, your powers can grasp that which eludes the grasp of most magics.**

I blinked at the information in front of me. Ok, well that was…not especially helpful. The intelligence was flattering I guess, but my LUK stat was abysmal, which kind of made sense honestly. I couldn't begin to imagine what the hell a "Starborn" was. Even with the explanation my Passive was a complete mystery. I thought back to my sessions playing D and D and figured if there was a Background tab, there must be other tabs. I cleared my throat, enunciating "Skills". I honestly didn't need to say it with so much projection, but it felt important. I'm a wizard, drama is to expected. **Through a new action, a skill has been created! (Dramatic Flare): A Wizard manipulates the forces of the universe, and one of those forces is Style! +1% Gravitas to all pronouncements, declarations and statements of intent for each level of this skill!**

 **Skill List:**

 **(Dramatic Intent):Expand for full description. (Level:1)**

 **(Sex): I feel like I don't need to go over this one, if you dont know what it is, you shouldn't have been doing it! +1% pleasure to all partners for each level of this skill, +1% chance to impregnate all biologically compatible partners per level of this skill when not using protection! (Level:5)**

 **(Gamers Mind): The composed mind of a seasoned Gamer, immunity to all mental manipulation and status effects! The Gamer is always composed when his life is on the line, which is always! Perfect self control under duress! Warning: Self control isn't immunity to emotions, you aren't a sociopath, you'll still feel emotions, they just wont override your common sense! (Level:MAX)**

 **(Gamers Body): Live your life as if in a video game! All damage from any source will be translated into HP loss! A good nights sleep will fully restore HP and MP as well as remove all negative physical statuses! (Level:MAX)**

 **(Physical Resistance) : Through repeated physical abuse, you grow stronger! +1% resistance to physical damage per level of this skill!(Level:5)**

Ok, what the actual fuck? Firstly, Elaine and I had to have a discussion about how rough she was allowed to be, five levels in Physical Resistance meant she had been playing a bit rough last night. Second of all, why the hell was my Sex skill increasing my chance to knock someone up? I was sixteen, I didn't need a damn baby! I focused on that portion of the skill, hoping to expand on the information. **Sex is the process of creating life! The better you are at Sex, the better you are at making babies! Maybe you should wear a rubber next time, idiot!**

I glared at the window, fuck you too game, hopefully that five percent wasn't going to screw me this one time. I eyed my LUK stat nervously and decided to learn some more about my stat page with my handy new expanded information trick. I focused on Dissonance. ( **Dissonance): You are still a young Wizard and still new to your power, Dissonance is the bridge that covers the gap between your strength and your capabilities! A spell that would cost 100 MP for someone with no dissonance will cost 179 for you! Even seasoned battle wizards usually posess some Dissonance, though the older and more skilled the wizard, the lower the value is! Only truly brilliant Wizards are completely in tune with their magic and can cast spells perfectly! Dissonance lowers by one percent every five points of wisdom and every ten points of intelligence!**

I grimaced but nodded, that made sense, if intelligence correlated to MP like it did in most RPGs I could get pretty damn strong, but it wouldn't make me a master spellcaster. I would have to grind that up just like a normal Wizard, albeit hopefully faster and with less studying. Based on my messages from my night with Elaine I could raise stats by using them, though I assumed that would take longer as I went. I needed to level up and see if I would get any stat points from that. I should hold off on using them until later when grinding them would be harder. **Due to several minutes of intense thoughts and planning your intelligence rises by 1! By reaching ten intelligence you've unlocked a new perk! Mana Condensation: Super condense your mana into liquid form to be consumed later to restore MP! Warning: Every hundred mana condenses into enough liquid to restore ten MP, mana potions can be imbibed by any being with a magical affinity! Due to reaching ten intelligence your dissonance has dropped to 78%!**

My eyes widened at the message. Ok, a hundred to ten ratio for Mana potions wasn't amazing, but it did allow me to stockpile MP for later use. I could build up a reserve and spend the day just practicing spells. My skills didn't include any actual magic, which I did know, so I assumed I had to actually use the spells to create the skill. Still, once I got some of those I could try to find a quest like the intro message had mentioned so I could level up. My face stretched into a wide grin as I stared off in the direction of the rising sun, today, my 16th birthday, was the first day of the rest of my life.

 **Hey guys, I'm working on a novel called Level Down on Royal Road and I want to work on the Litrpg medium a bit to gain some experience for that story. The Dresden files had no Gamer stories, so I figured it was a win win. I'm really excited about this one. As I usually say, any reviews will certainly help with motivation, but either way I plan to continue this as practice. Hope to hear from some new readers, let me know what you think and what youd like to see.**


	2. Playing with fire

After I finished staring dramatically off into the middle distance I decided to finally check out that Backstory tab the game had mentioned. **Backstory: Welcome to a world of magic! As a wizard you wield the forces of creation! Based on conjecture and common sense you can surmise that since you aren't the only wizard in the world there may be some governing body! You should find out about this mysterious wizard government and probably figure out what kind of restrictions they place on their members (hint hint)!**

I frowned at that. That actually made a lot of sense, and I hadn't really considered it before. I was a bit underwhelmed at the Backstory page but I suspected it would fill out as I learned more about the world. That one hint in the tab was probably important if the massage directing me to that tab was anything to go off. I hopped up off my stump and decided that I was going to try a few of my spells. I was interested to see how high I could grind them up with my new abilities.

I held out my palm and muttered "Ventus", watching a gust of wind rush outward from my hand to rustle the leaves on the trees. **Through a new action, a skill has been created! (Gust of Wind) By molding your mana into the form of moving air, you can generate air currents to affect your surroundings! 178 MP per second, increased mana consumption increases power of wind! Due to a special action you have unlocked a skill tree! Aeromancy is now one of your abilities! (Aeromancy) the mystical art of air manipulation! 1% less MP for any air spells cast per level of this skill! (Level 1)**

I blinked at that. Holy shit. So if I became a master Aeromancer I would be able to cast hurricane force gales for no mana? I was guessing leveling skill tress like that was going to be immensely hard. I made a note to invent some new wind spells and practice them once I leveled that one, I was hoping levels in corresponding skills would boost my Aeromancy. I shook off my excitement at potential unlimited power later on down the line and moved on to my next spell "Fuego."

A small column of flame blazed out from my raised palm, sadly little more than one would get from a can of hairspray and a lighter. **(Gout of Flame) By using your mana to excite molecular motion, you can throw bursts of actual fire! 178 MP per second, increased mana consumption increases power of flame! Due to a special action you have unlocked a skill tree! Pyromancy is now one of you abilities! (Pyromancy) The mystical art of fire manipulation! 1% less MP for any air spells cast per level of this skill! (Level 1)**

I grinned, rubbing my hands together. I had always loved fire magic, and the thought of someday being able to call flames without needing to pay any mana for it filled me with anticipation. I was definitely going to need to pick a school of magic and stick with it, I needed to max one of these skill trees soon, if not for the cost benefit then because the term tree implied I would gain new skills in that type of magic as it leveled. I couldn't wait to learn some kickass new fire spells as that level went up.

Now for the hard part, this next spell was one that I was still pretty new at. I knew that if I could do it I would get the skill, but I wasn't confident in pulling this one off in one time out of fifty. I checked my mana, sitting at 794/1050(having gone up from my point of intelligence) and breathed deep, before intoning steadily "Defendarius." **(Shield of Force) Create a solid bastion of manifested magic to shield your body from physical and magical harm 178mp per second consuming more mana can reinforce the shield! Due to a special action you have unlocked a skill tree! Manifestation is now one of your abilities! (Manifestation) The mystical art of shaping mana into a physical form! 1% less mp for any manifestation spells for every level of this skill!**

I gave a satisfied grin, having accomplished the spell my first try. The price was rough, draining my mana at an astonishing rate to keep the spell up for any length of time, but I could still hopefully create a more economic shield spell, or worst case scenario just grind my manifestation skill up a bit. Sadly even at level 100 that particular skill wouldn't give me an unbreakable shield as much as an unlimited one. Based on the text I was assuming my shield could be overpowered, and while 100% cheaper cost meant I could overcharge the hell out of that shield, I was betting I couldn't put more into the spell in one shot than I had in my MP bar. Still, at that point my MP will hopefully be way more impressive so it would be useful as hell anyway.

I stopped my internal monologue to spin around when I heard a rustle off to the side. I waited a minute and almost dismissed it as the wind, when I heard a menacing growl rumble for amongst the trees. I felt the blood drain from my face as I saw a huge Black Bear shamble out from the trees. I checked my mana seeing it at only 525/1050 and cursed myself for leaving my shield up for an indeterminate amount of time and swore to keep track of that next time. I needed more information. I looked frantically around before I decided to try something desperate.

I looked at the bear and focused on expanding the information like I did in my game windows **Through a special action a new skill has been created! (Observe) Learn about the world around you through the lense of the Game, the higher the level of your observe the more information you have access too. At higher observe levels simply keep in mind the kind of information you want when observing to filter out all the extraneous data! You don't want their whole life story! (Level 1) Black Bear: It's a bear you idiot, what were you hoping to gain from this? (Level 15) HP:1500/1500 MP:0**

Ok well shit, now that I thought about ti information didn't really help me figure out how to fight a bear. Wait, I'm a wizard! Bears hate magic! I mean…probably. They at least hate fire. Pretty much everything hates fire. I raised a hand and hissed "Fuego"and a stream of fire arced out from my open palm. Of course it stopped about a foot away from me and did nothing to the bear. Or at least no damage. The bear stared at my hand then raised up on its hind legs and bellowed a challenge.

 **You have been hit with (Earshaking Roar)! You take no damage but are stunned for five seconds! Way to go genius, maybe next time don't taunt the apex predator!** I froze up. I would've assumed it was terror but according to the Game it was apparently some kind of stun move. The bear began to shamble forward menacingly. Apparently it didn't see me as a threat because I knew from books that bears could be fast as hell and this one was taking its time. Finally I felt my muscles unlock and I almost shouted my relief as I threw myself to the side before a swipe of a giant black paw could shatter me like a cheap Christmas ornament.

I shoved my hand up and bellowed "Fuego!" at the now in range bear. A gout of flame lashed out straight into the bears face and it bellowed again in rage and pain. **You have scored a critical hit! 100 damage times five for critical times two due to elemental weakness equals 1000 points of damage! Good job! Its really pissed off now!** **Black Bear-HP:500/1500!** The same paw as before cam smashing down at my head but I dove sideways again. This thing was monster! I had really lucked out with that crit but I couldn't count on that happening twice. With that fire weakness if I didn't crit it would take me three more spells to put it down. I summoned my will again and with everything I had, hoping for another crit, I aimed for the head again and screamed "Fuego!"

A bolt of flame seared out of my hand, but this time I felt my mana keep draining as the spell doubled in size and seared the bear across its already smoldering muzzle. The beast stumbled back from the force of the blow and kept going, toppling like a tree and smashing into the ground. I sat there for a second, stunned, and probably would've stayed there if I hadn't been cut off by the Game. **Congratulations! You have slain the mighty Black Bear! For deafeating an enemy more than ten times your level you gain twenty five times XP! 20XP times 25 times boost equals 500XP! Congratulations, you have gained five levels! For acts of sheer dumb luck you have gained the achievement Bear Blasting! (Bear Blasting): Similar to hump catting! Fifty percent more damage to bears!**

I stared in shock as I closed the windows noting the other gains from my close encounter as I did. **Congratulations! You have gained two intelligence! You have gained two wisdom! You have gained five dexterity! You have gained one Luck! You have gained the skill book, Instant Dungeon Creation!** I couldn't believe all the stat gains, I guess risking my life and getting stupid lucky had helped me gain more points, not to mention them already being so low. I slumped down to sit back down on my stump. That had been terrifying. I couldn't count on another level jump like that sadly at my current level I'd need to kill something in the fifties to get that bonus again, which sounded like suicide.

I needed to get stronger. If any random bear was that tough I was way behind. I would grind my stats through working out and training for a while to get myself all evened out, and once I got to a decent spot, I would check out that new skill book. Despite the traumatic events of the past few minutes I couldn't help but grin. After all, what video game is complete without a dungeon.

 **AN:Ok folks this is King, loving the feedback on this one so far. Sorry this chapter is a bit choppy, I needed a way to introduce the ID and get Harry into fighting shape and the bear seemed like a good fit. Bonus points to anyone who got the joke from that achievement, its fairly obscure. Reviews feed me, hope to get some soon. Thanks folks.**


	3. Tower of the ancients

Naturally, I didn't wait until the next day to use my new skill. I activated the skill book immediately and upon learning the skill triggered Instant Dungeon Creation. The world around me flickered as the blue sky overhead shifted radically to a dark, starry purple. I looked around at the forest nearby, expecting to see Goblins or something jump out to stab me, but the darkened forest sat peacefully empty, the crickets chirping as the wind rustled the, for some reason now purple leaved trees.

I looked at the system message that had popped up when I learned and triggered the skill **By reading a skill book, you have learned a new skill! Instant Dungeon Creation: Use the power of the Game to warp the world around you and connect it to other worlds! The higher your level, the more dramatic the change, and the more powerful your instant dungeon!** Well that made sense, the stronger I got the more interesting and powerful dungeons I could make. It also made sense that it connected me to other worlds, since warping reality was reasonable but if it was all that was going on, once the dungeon closed, none of my loot would stick around.

I looked down to the second message and let out a loud groan **Congratulations! You've created your first instant dungeon! This dungeon connects to The Sorcerers Tower! This is a common ranked dungeon! As a bonus for creating your first dungeon so quickly, you get plus ten to LUK!** Call me a cynic, but when I'm suddenly granted ten luck out of nowhere, I start to worry I'm going to need it soon, and inside a pocket dimension that connects to another universe is the last place I want to rely on getting lucky.

Shaking my head, I set off into the forest, figuring that since I created this place it was probably oriented by my perception, hence I needed to travel forward to get to where I was heading. After several peaceful minutes of walking through evening woods I finally came to a gigantic stone tower. Imposingness aside, the damn thing was terribly built. Seemingly much too thin and being propped up in several places by wooden supports fastened to more stable parts of the building. My eyebrows creased as I stared at one of the least stable buildings I had ever seen and prepared to enter.

The conical but faded blue tiled roof sported a flag with a picture of a broom on it, so I wasn't too worried about the inhabitants, plus this was a common dungeon so how strong could the monsters be. Despite worrying I would trip and fall through one of the ramshackle stone walls I was more than confident of my abilities, despite my worry about that random LUK boost. I walked purposefully up to the huge wooden door and just before my hand reached the handle, I realized I had missed something huge!

I had leveled up five times! I focused on my stat screen and watched the window pop into existence. At level six I had twenty five free attribute points to dump into any stat I wanted. I controlled my immediate reflex to dump them all into LUK because that would be a huge waste, thought I did drop in four points to round my LUK stat to fifteen. Noticing as I did that I had actually gotten a skill that I hadn't noticed when my LUK hit ten. **Congratulations by reaching ten LUK you've unlocked a new perk! Double or nothing: whenever your LUK is applied you have a 50% chance to achieve a critical lucky outcome, as well as a 50% chance to achieve a critically unlucky one! You may not always have good LUK but you'll always have a lot of it!**

Fuck! I didn't want that perk! My whole life was going to turn into a comedy of errors. I searched in vain for a way to turn it off and glared at the window. Shit. On thinking of the way LUK had to work I vaguely understood the mechanics. LUK could be good or bad, a higher LUK didn't mean I would have more good things happen, it meant I would have more UNLIKELY things happen. This perk just split it into an even fifty fifty split. To be fair that prevented me from having a few years of only bad LUK but it also meant my bad days were going to be a lot more consistent.

After I pushed my LUK up to 15 I thought hard about the rest of my points. I wanted to put some of them in intelligence of course, and some in wisdom, a good mana regen rate would be a huge help. But on the other hand I needed to raise my physical stats too. I thought for a second and dumped fifteen points into WIS and the remaining six into INT. Knowing that I could raise my stats through use made wasting points on physical stats a stupid idea. Wisdom would be the hardest to raise on purpose and intelligence, aside from deciding my MP was also my highest stat so it would rise the slowest from here on out.

 **By raising your WIS to ten you've gained a new perk! Meditation: By clearing your mind and connecting to the energy around you, double your mana regen rate!** That was amazing! My mana regen went up to 19 mp per minute and I could double that by meditating! It might not be enough to let me machine gun spells but it was more than one percent per minute which meant I wouldn't be tapped completely for more than a few hours at any given time. With my mana sitting at 1350 now I also had a solid pool to draw from, and I readied myself to react to surprises as I yanked open the huge wooden door of the rickety tower.

The inside of the tower was, not surprisingly, poorly lit by widely interspersed torches, and the first halway was even occupied by my very first dungeon monster. **(Level 1) Mop Beast: and arcane guard beast created from magically animating a common floor mop. Be careful, or this thing might clean your clock! HP:300/300 MP:1000/1000** I once again glared at the window. Damn it game, like this wasn't humiliating enough without the bad puns? I rolled my eyes and focused back on the Mop Beast.

So from what I could tell aside from level, different types of monsters had different strengths. That bear had 1500 HP and this Mop had 1300 combined, there must be some type of tier system within the game independent of levels. **By showing uncommon levels of perception and making impressive inferences, you gain one WIS! For reaching twenty WIS your Meditation perk has been upgraded! Meditation now triples your mana regen rate while in the meditative state!**

Well damn, that was useful. I'd make sure to try that out after this fight. I took one step forward and felt the Mop Beast focus its attention on me, it began to glow a dull blue, and I emmediately lashed out with a spell before it had a chance to attack. A cone of flame lanced out of my hand, instead of holding the spell for long I dumped twice the mana into it to double the resulting damage. **By spending 236 mana you unleash an augmented Gout of Flame! 200 damage, divided by half by Mop Beasts arcane shield, times two due to elemental weakness equals 200 damage!**

Damn it, I never managed to put them down in one shot. At least I knew what that blue glow was, a fucking shield. Unlike pre Gamer me, current me didn't get winded or drained by spells, at least not with over a thousand mana still left in my tank. I quickly Blasted it with another Gout of Flame, but before I did the color of its glow changed to purple. **The Mop Beast uses, Lightning Burst! You take75 points of electrical damage!** Before I could process what I'd just read the blast of lightning hit me dead center in the chest. I half expected my heart to stop on a dime but instead I just felt indescribable pain. Gamers Body preventing me from suffering an un game like death via the laws of physics.

Death or not though that fucking HURT. I staggered back, gasping in pain and glaring at the mop beast as I recast my previous Gout of flame, which had apparently been interrupted. It had drained the mana and the spell fell apart mid cast. Luckily apparently I didn't get a spell backlash this time, but I'd have to remember that interrupted spells still cost mana. The blast hit the bastard Mop Beast for a crit and burned the damn thing to ash, and I slumped to the ground in pain.

 **Due to exposure to electricity you have developed Electrical resistance Level 1! Electrical Resistance (Level 1): Ignore 1% of electrical damage done to you! Surviving catastrophic damage raises your VIT by 3!** Well damn, I was guessing raising that wasn't going to be easy. Still every little bit helped. I slumped down onto the surprisingly clean tile and took a breath. This dungeon was going to be harder than I had expected, and I'd need every advantage I could get. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, and began meditation.

 **Hey folks king here. Sorry had another project going but this hasn't been abandoned. Hopefully I'll be able to update this more, and remember any reviews help motivate me a lot lol. Anyway hope you like this one and I have some interesting stuff planned.**


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